Team BVI Wins Caribbean Dinghy Championships 2013

Consistent sailing saw BVI sailors win the 2013 Caribbean Dinghy Championships held this weekend. The two day event was raced in Lasers, Zoom, Optimist and Pico dinghies in Falmouth Harbour, Antigua. The event, run under the auspices of the Caribbean Sailing Association, was hosted by the Antigua Yacht Club in conjunction with Antigua’s National Sailing Academy. The Royal BVI Yacht Club and the BVI National Sailing Federation sponsored the BVI team.

Conditions were light with shifty winds in the 5-knot range on Saturday morning. Afternoon racing on Saturday was abandoned as the wind died. Sunday saw the direction swing to the North-West but sufficient breeze piped up for two good races in steady 8-10-knot wind, then two more in lesser shifty conditions.

Rayne Duff was the easy winner of the Optimist class while David “Snagglepuss” Athill eked out a half point winning margin in the full Laser rig class. Sam Morrell, sailing with James Dawson, clinched an easy 2nd in the Pico class. “James and I had never sailed together and we were actually heavy for the conditions,” explained Morrell. “We managed mostly second place finishes and a few thirds.” Similarly, Thad Lettsome took 2nd in the Zoom class. Mathew Oliver suffered gear failure that saw him finish 4th on the Laser radial class. “I could have done a lot better,” he lamented. Teams were also on-hand from Trinidad and Barbados. Antigua fielded two teams. “The BVI team sailed consistently and safely,” reported Coach Omari Scott. “This was a team event so sailing carefully and working together to win was important. The team did great.”

According to the CSA’s website, this is the third year running that the Caribbean Dinghy Championships have been held in Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Barbuda was chosen as host country for several reasons including that it is central and easy for regional participants to get to, because it has a large and varied fleet of sailing dinghies ideally suited for this type of competition, and because it is easier for planning purposes to hold it in one location for three years running.

The Royal BVI Yacht Clubs runs its Youth Sailing Programme from Nanny Cay with performance-tiered practice on Tuesdays – Fridays after school, and an open fun sailing session on Saturday mornings where all young children are welcomed to join. The youth sailors representing the BVI are part of this programme and trained up to 3 times a week leading up to the event.